Better to Move by Foot or Slidewalk: Post-Automobile Environments in Asimov’s The Caves of Steel and Clarke’s The City and the Stars
Date
Authors
Major Professor
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Authors
Research Projects
Organizational Units
The Department of English seeks to provide all university students with the skills of effective communication and critical thinking, as well as imparting knowledge of literature, creative writing, linguistics, speech and technical communication to students within and outside of the department.
History
The Department of English and Speech was formed in 1939 from the merger of the Department of English and the Department of Public Speaking. In 1971 its name changed to the Department of English.
Dates of Existence
1939-present
Historical Names
- Department of English and Speech (1939-1971)
Related Units
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
- Department of English (predecessor, 1898-1939)
- Department of Public Speaking (predecessor, 1898-1939)
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Department
Abstract
This essay focuses on Asimov’s The Caves of Steel and Clarke’s The City and the Stars, two works published during the 1950s that both largely abolish the automobile as a stern rebuke to that decade’s enthusiastic acceptance of the car. However, these works hold differing ideas regarding desirable and effective alternatives to cars, for Caves of Steel favors machine-enhanced transportation in the form of slidewalks (a vast network of moving sidewalks), whereas City and the Stars privileges the simple act of walking. This essay demonstrates, therefore, how Asimov’s and Clarke’s privileging of different alternatives to automobility also reveals disagreements on two important questions: to what degree technology and human bodies should intertwine, and whether collectivism or individualism should hold greater priority.
Comments
This accepted article is published as Withers, J., Better to Move by Foot or Slidewalk: Post-Automobile Environments in Asimov’s The Caves of Steel and Clarke’s The City and the Stars. Extrapolation, 2021 62(2);111-131. DOI: 10.3828/extr.2021.7. Posted with permission.